A Weekend in Bath

A tour of the city and its beautiful Roman Baths and Georgian Architecture.

This week I wrote a list of all the activities I want to do and places I want to travel while I’m in London. One place I have had on top of my list for a long time is Bath. A small English city just over an hour (by train) outside of London. This weekend I finally decided to go.

Straight after work on Friday I got ready and made my way to Paddington Station where the GWR train departs. Even after 3 years I haven't cracked the code on the National Rail system and always have elevated stress levels when booking and catching those trains. Paddington is a large station and as expected there was a big Friday rush with hundreds of people racing each other through the gates to grab a seat. I ended up in the wrong carriage of a fully booked train, which meant I found myself standing for the full journey. Music and a good podcast helped me, and after living away from home for several years I've mastered the art of passing time.

There was still a little bit of light when I arrived and I took in my first glimpses of the old buildings and architecture as I walked the 10 minutes to my accommodation at 33 Broad Street. I discovered that my room was part of a bar and restaurant. It was a small but cosy room, recently renovated with a nice open bathroom. It was exactly what I needed for one night and I spent the next few hours chilling before passing out around midnight.

In the morning my first and main activity was a tour of the Roman Baths. At 9.45am there weren’t too many tourists, which gave me freedom to explore in comfort. The Baths really dominate the city, not by their physical size as a lot is underground, but by their history and influence. The Romans built the Baths around 70AD after discovering the natural hot springs (3 of them), which to this day are the only hot ones in the UK. Its one of the best preserved Roman sites and was re-discovered and created into an attraction in the 19th century. The ‘Great Bath’ takes centre stage, with its large rectangular shape, surrounded by stone pillars and underground rooms and passages that once attracted people from all walks of life. I found it fascinating that the water we see today fell as rainwater approximately 10,000 years

ago on the nearby Mendip Hills. The rainwater filters through the earth, heats from the pressure, and rises back up to the surface through fissures in the rock. I also liked the fact that both the rich and poor used the Baths together for places of leisure and healing. Fast forward 2000 years to today and we still use baths and saunas for the same things, the only difference being that we don’t typically dedicate them to Gods like they did in this case for Minerva.

Continuing with the theme of history, my second activity of the day was a walking tour of the city. I arrived at the meeting point by the Abby after purchasing a phone charger (I forgot mine!), and second coffee in hand. The tour was better than expected and I felt like I'd gotten good value after the first 30minutes. It started with an overview of Bath and how it is officially recognised as a city, with 90,000 people, including 25,000 students, and 6 million tourists annually. Each year people flock there for the baths, the architecture, and for hens/stag parties. In recognition of Baths beauty and significance, the entire city (original boundary) is designated as a UNESCO world heritage site, with the only other one in the world being Venice in Italy. The reason it achieved this status is for its palladian crescents and terraces, its integration of buildings within the picturesque landscape, and its representation of two important time periods – Roman and Georgian. I found the Georgian architecture captivating and the two most impressive examples of this were the Royal Crescent and The Circus. Both designed as grand 5-story terrace houses with prominent facades, large pillars, crittall glass windows, and statues/symbols carved into the light yellow Bath stone. The integrity has remained to this day and I couldn’t help admiring them, wishing I had a few million pounds to spare to purchase one. The other interesting thing about the Georgian period was its culture, where appearance was everything. People would dress up and ‘promenade’ along walkways in public just to be seen. I couldn’t help thinking how today's equivalent is the portrayal of people on social media.

After that we made our way back towards the centre to the Pulteney Bridge, one of four in the world to have shops lining both sides for the full length. The bridge has three stone arches with the Avon River running through them, greenery on either side of the banks and up into the surrounding hills. The tour ended here and I made my way to Sydney Gardens for lunch and my third coffee.

The last activity of the day was seeing Bath Abby, located right next to the Roman Baths. A large gothic style building constructed in the 16th Century and just as impressive on the inside as the outside. There were some amazing features such as angels climbing ladders to heaven on either side of the front facade, huge stain glass windows at both ends of the building, one depicting stories of the Bible and the other depicting the life of Jesus. I found it really peaceful being inside observing the vast ceilings and all of the memorials covering the walls and the floor. I stopped and read one of the prayers that was displayed, Psalm 34:18, and lit a candle which felt appropriate given that I haven't been in the best health.

15,000 steps and a head full of new information, I felt content that I had seen and heard enough to get a glimpse into one of the UK’s most beautiful cities.

I made my way to the train station with two new key ring mementos, and a rekindled appreciation for history and architecture.